Collagen hydrogels are in broad use in today's clinical, tissue engineering and cell biology fields as scaffolds, labware coating, cell encapsulation materials and injectables. Most of the commercial preparations are pepsin-treated atelopeptide type I collagen preparations lacking the fibril associating C-terminus and do not form native-like fibrils. One commercially important collagen product for cell culture/tissue engineering is Purecol® from Inamed Inc. (now Advanced Biomolecules). Purecol® is a type I, monomeric collagen extracted from bovine hide, with telopeptide ends partially removed. Monomeric collagen forms a random fibrillar network with fewer cross-links compared to polymeric collagen, is weaker and has a slower gelation time (30-120 min). The latter properties limit its applications in fields such as tissue engineering, cell encapsulation, and clinical applications, where high mechanical strength and/or rapid gelation time (minutes) are required. Another disadvantage of bovine collagen products is the potential for contamination with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) virus, or Mad Cow Disease, which is transmissible to humans.